Let's Get Behind Murray Hill, Inc. for Congress!

Posted by Michael Bryan

Inspired by the Citizen's United ruling, Murray Hill, Inc. is making it official and tossing its hat in the ring for a seat in Congress. The natural evolution of the oligopolistic American system of representative democracy is beginning now: get your share of democracy at the IPO!

While clearly this is a stunt to bring awareness to how captured by corporate interests our system of representative democracy has become, it can and should precipitate a discussion across the political spectrum of just what sort of government we can expect with the current institutions and rules.

The idea that democracy represents the interests of the people of this country is largely discredited among Americans. They question we need to ask ourselves is the one that we have been asking for the past several electoral cycles: how do we take our country back? Unfortunately, we have been seeking to take it back from the "other party", not realizing that the both parties are now largely the creatures of corporate interests.

It may be true that the Democratic Party at least pretends (and some valiant voices earnestly try) to seek the interests of the American people, whereas the Republicans seem to have discarded all pretense. But it is undeniable that neither party can any longer focus the political will of common Americans to provide those things we desperately need: healthcare for all, a fair and equitable economy, a real check on the casino economy that the banking and finance sector has become, investments in America's future economic competitiveness, and reasonable and prudent action on the environmental degradation of the Earth that could make life untenable for future generations.

There is a reason for these failures. Our representative democratic system has been fully captured by corporate interests whose incumbent financial interests require that America keep its head firmly in the sand on all these vital subjects.